A Non-Consumer Vision for Church

These days outdoor enthusiasts can go on outdoor adventures that are guided and hosted by professional guides.  Participants can hike a long grueling trail, only to have their tents already set up, hot coffee brewing, and a gourmet dinner waiting.  The guide not only assumes responsibility for leading the group, but he or she also makes sure all the supplies are packed in, meals are cooked, dishes are washed, and so forth.  The guide even hires extra people if necessary to carry in the supplies.  Wealthy adventurers seeking to summit Mt. Everest have been doing this for generations with expert guides and Sherpas in the Himalayan mountains.  This way, the participant gets all the exhilaration of the adventure without the hassle of carrying supplies, cooking and cleaning.  All one really has to carry is one's own personal needs and the rest is taken care of by paid professionals.  

In many ways, I think this how we Westerners do church in the 21st century.  Our pastors serve as our expert guides, making sure that we have all our needs met along the journey.  They set up our growth opportunities for us, cooking up lesson plans and studies to enrich our spiritual development.  All Christians really need to do is show up.  If necessary, our pastors hire others to carry what we need, such as youth pastors, Christian education experts, worship leaders, and so forth.  This way we can only travel ultralight in the Christian community, carrying only our own necessities and leaving the guide and his or her "Sherpas" to do the heavy lifting of ministry.  This is how must western churches function.  It is also how most Christians view their church and judge an effective pastor. 

However, this is a very consumer driven model for church.  It presupposes a church filled affluent church consumers who have resources to shell out for this expert service.  Professional music, media driven sermons, high energy children's events, and so forth are the equivalent of tents already set up, air mattresses packed in and inflated by Sherpas, and gourmet trail meals. 

How different this is than ordinary people who decide to go backpacking together.  There are still leaders of course.  However, their leadership is functional, with participants deferring to his or her expertise in making trail decisions.  No one expects the leader to carry their gear.  In fact, an egalitarian spirit prevails when friends backpack, where food, water, and group supplies are divided up evenly among the people.  Some might take less, based on their physical abilities.  But everyone takes something. 

For me, this is  how church could be:  A community of people who decide to journey together.  Leaders emerge in the group, based on gifting and experience.  However, together they carry the burden of the ministry.  Together their decide on vision and direction, new ministries and initiatives.  Decisions are made together, and carried out together.  New leaders emerge for new directions.  This vision is a non consumer driven vision for church.  It's a vision that has leaders, but the leaders don't carry burdens that the others should be carrying.  It's a vision that requires investment in each other, mutual reliance and interdependence.  It is a vision that sounds strange and radical in our consumer driven culture.  It's a vision that I want to embody in my life and my church.